Vertex Modern Slavery Act Statement
Our Commitment
Vertex, Inc. (“Vertex”) remains committed to good corporate citizenship and the highest ethical standards, which includes the international effort to abolish all forms of modern slavery. To fulfil these commitments, Vertex is establishing systems and controls to safeguard against slavery and related human trafficking in providing services to its customers and in the supply chain of products it purchases from suppliers.
The UK Modern Slavery Act Programme remains a priority for Vertex and we remain committed to ensuring that there is no slavery and human trafficking in our business operations and supply chain.
Our Business
Vertex is a leading global provider of indirect tax software and solutions. Our mission is to deliver the most trusted tax technology enabling global businesses to transact, comply and grow with confidence. Vertex provides cloud-based and on-premise solutions that can be tailored to specific industries for every major line of indirect tax, including sales and consumer use, value added and payroll. Headquartered in North America, and with offices in South America and Europe, Vertex employs over 1,200 professionals and serves companies across the globe.
The Board of Directors is Vertex’s highest governing body. The Corporate Governance overview and documents can be found on our Investor Relations site.
Given the nature of Vertex’s business, the solutions we provide, and the professional workforce we employ, we assess the risk of modern slavery or human trafficking in our company to be relatively low.
Our Supply Chain
Our supply chain consists primarily of services, including professional services, IT services, as well as office supplies. We believe our overall risk of modern slavery is relatively low due to:
- The nature of the goods and services which we procure (mostly services, mostly skilled professions).
- The locations from which we procure them (mostly in developed markets).
Our Values
Vertex has always been committed to the highest form of business conduct and ethics in our operations and is committed to sourcing quality products from suppliers who share our ethical values. Further, the Vertex team shares core values and a common purpose: to build trusted relationships at work and in our communities.
Vertex has implemented a UK Slavery Act Programme and outlines Vertex’s commitment to complying with the UK Modern Slavery Act and how it will affect Vertex’s operations. The programme also serves to educate and inform Vertex employees.
Our Code of Ethics and Conduct (“Code”) provides guidelines on how employees should conduct themselves when doing business on behalf of Vertex.
Vertex maintains an employee handbook for the United States, United Kingdom and Ireland that further outlines employment policies and procedures for our organisation. In part, each handbook provides standards related to works hours (and limitations) and work conditions. In addition, Vertex utilises contingent and temporary employees who must comply with the same standard work hours and conditions as Vertex employees. When Vertex utilises a staffing agency to engage contingent, temporary employees' contracts state that all parties must comply with local applicable laws.
All employees are encouraged to report violations of the Code to the Vertex Ethics Officer or the Compliance Line. The Compliance Line is available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, including weekends and holidays, and all reports can be made anonymously.
Next Steps
Vertex recognises the potential to be exposed to the risk of slavery and human trafficking in our supply chains. We recognise that we have a global operation, and given the various geographic locations and sectors, it presents a higher risk of slavery and human trafficking than others.
In the inaugural year of the UK Modern Slavery Act Programme, Vertex began the work of implementing the foundation of the programme but recognises there is still much to accomplish, and we must continue to build an all-encompassing Programme and remain vigilant. As such, we maintain the same goals as 2022.
For the financial year ending 31 December 2023, Vertex will focus on continuing to develop and enhance our UK Modern Slavery Act Programme. In our commitment to combat slavery and human trafficking in our operations and supply chains, we intend to take the following steps:
- Continue to develop the UK Modern Slavery Programme to include a policy and training programme for all employees.
- Implement a responsible sourcing program within our vendor management program to ensure our suppliers understand and support Vertex’s commitment to abolish modern slavery and human trafficking.
- Implement enhanced due diligence to assess actual and potential human rights impacts and processes to respond to potential findings and tracking Vertex’s responses.
- Include the UK Modern Slavery Act Programme in risk assessments to better assess the risks of slavery and human trafficking in our supply chains.
- Where appropriate we will include reference to the Modern Slavery Act in our policies and procedures.
- Creating an Environmental, Social and Governance programme that incorporates the efforts of the UK Modern Slavery Programme.
Vertex will continue to review our policies, procedures, and processes going forward to make sure they appropriately address our commitment to eliminate modern slavery and human trafficking within our operations and supply chain.
Bryan Rowland
Vice President & General Counsel
Signed January for the 2023 financial year